Practical Progress: Calling For A Raise...Invisible War No More...3MAR14

PRACTICAL PROGRESS: The Agenda Project Action Fund's actually 'brief' briefing on the most Important news from the Progressive Movement.
CALLING FOR A RAISE -- The National Employment Law Project created a hotline for people to call their Representatives and urge them to sign the Fair Minimum Wage Act discharge petition, which House Democrats filed last Wednesday. The petition must get 218 signatures in order to force an immediate vote. CALL 1-888-851-1916 and SHARE with people you know. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a minimum wage worker must work at least 67 hours a week to afford rent. FIND OUT if you could live on the minimum wage in your state HERE.
Meanwhile, Smart Capitalist Ron Unz's ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage to 12 dollars an hour in California just got an endorsement from PayPal Co-Founder and GOP donor Peter Thiel, who recently agreed that a higher minimum wage was something to "seriously consider." CHECK OUT the Smart Capitalists in the news HERE.
MIN WAGE MUST READ: Behind the Kitchen Door, a book exposing how restaurant workers live on some of the lowest wages in the country, authored by Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC United) Co-Founder Saru Jayaraman. FIND out about ROC United's Living Off Tips campaign to raise the minimum wage for tipped workers HERE.



INVISIBLE WAR NO MORE -- Producer of Academy Award nominated documentary "The Invisible War" Amy Ziering tells PP about the need to pass Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)'s Military Justice Improvement Act (MJIA), which if legalized would remove the chain of command from the oversight of sex crimes: "We need everyone to call their Senators and tell them to vote in favor of MJIA to ensure that our service members have access to an impartial system of justice -- which is the very thing they pledge to defend for us with their lives. It's the least we can do for them." The vote is expected in the next few days. Protect our Defenders, CAP, The National Women's Law Center, 19 out of the 20 female members of the U.S. Senate, conservatives Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rand Paul (R-KY) and countless others have all come out in support of MJIA. JOIN them by SIGNING a petition HERE and CALLING your Senator at 1-888-907-6886. Undecideds include Marco Rubio (R-FL), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Mike Lee (R-UT).
READ: "The Time Is Now for Military Justice for Assault Victims" by National Organization for Women President Terry O'Neill.
FIND OUT more about "The Invisible War" and the #NotInvisible campaign HERE.
MILLENIALS AGAINST GUN VIOLENCE -- Every 70 minutes a 15-24 year old American dies due to gunfire, according to new findings by Generation Progress and the Center for American Progress (CAP). Just two weekends ago the groups hosted the first National Summit on Gun Violence and America's Youth, featuring NAACP, Million Hoodies, Dream Defenders, reformed gang members, and individuals directly impacted by gun violence. READ "Young Guns: How Gun Violence is Devastating the Millennial Generation" and FIND out more about the summit HERE.
RIGHTING VOTING RIGHTS -- 4,000 MoveOn.Org members delivered a 200,000+ signature petition supporting the Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2014 (VRAA) to congressional offices on February 21st, in junction with their new "Defend the Vote" campaign. The VRAA is the first bipartisan attempt in Congress to restore some of the protections the Shelby County v. Holder ruling took away last year, which has been evident in disastrous discriminatory voting laws in states like Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Virginia.
Demos recently published "Millions to the Polls: Practical Policies to Fulfill the Freedom to Vote for All Americans," outlining multiple strategies advocating for effective voting reform. ACLU Action drafted a petition urging Congress to pass the VRAA. SIGN HERE.
ASK AND TELL -- CAP released a new study detailing why LGBT servicemen and women need civilian workplace protections, including the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). A large portion of LGBT service members are not active-duty, meaning they must also have civilian jobs; veterans currently experience a 3.3 percent higher rate of unemployment than their civilian counterparts. CAP Executive Vice President for External Affairs Winnie Stachelberg: "It's unacceptable that we send men and women overseas to defend our values, such as equality, only to deny them these basic freedoms as soon as they return home." READ: "The Freedom to Serve and the Freedom to Work."
MORTGAGE FORGIVENESS -- Americans for Financial Reform joined the National Housing Law Project, National Urban League, Home Defenders League, Consumer Action, CAP, and over 215 other organizations in signing a letter to Congress insisting that they extend the Mortgage Forgiveness Tax Relief Act. READ the letter HERE.
WHAT ABOUT US? -- CEPR Co-Director and Top Wonk Dean Baker will be testifying on Thursday to the Committee on Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce about the effect of the Affordable Care Act on the self-employed. WATCH the livestream HERE.
SUSTAINABLE SPRING -- Sierra Club is hosting a talk on toxins in schools on Wednesday, March 19th at the Seafarers & International House in New York. "Toxins in Schools and All Around Us" is the latest installment of their Sustainability Series. FIND out more HERE.
FROM THE WONK WIRE ...
... INCONVENIENT TRUTHS: Wilson Center Public Policy Scholar and Top Wonk Ruth Greenspan Bell questions if the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the best route to controlling greenhouse gases.
... UNTANGLING FREE SPEECH: University of Chicago Law School Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Top Wonk Geoffrey Stone connects the dots between the noose, Ole Miss, and free speech.
... WHATSAPP WITH THAT?: Former Secretary of Labor and Top Wonk Robert Reich spells out why WhatsApp is everything wrong with the U.S. economy.
Find out more at www.TopWonks.org.
... ON OUR AGENDA ... PP congratulates current CAP Chief of Staff and Senior Vice President Jessica O'Connell on her upcoming role as EMILY's List Executive Director. CAP President Neera Tanden: "Jess has always had a deep commitment to ensuring that women are equally represented at all levels of government, and her management and leadership will be invaluable at EMILY's List as she continues to fight for more opportunities for women."
Check out our newsletter's site at www.PracticalProgress.org. Like what you see? JOIN the movement by sending tips, news, and reactions to Hannah Hendler at hhendler@agendaproject.org.

Sign and send the petition to your Senators: Support victims of military sexual assault 3MAR14

SEXUAL ASSAULT is rampant in the U.S. military, and the chain of command has proven they are not will or able to deal with it in a way that protects the victims and grants them the justice they deserve. The vote on the Military Justice Improvement Act should come up for a vote in the US Senate this week. Click the link to sign the petition telling your Senators they must pass this bill and to do it now.
Here's my short note to my Senators, Tim Kaine D VA and Mark Warner D VA

Senator, please don’t filibuster the Military Justice Improvement Act. There is an epidemic of sexual assaults in the military today and we need real reform to protect victims and prosecute those responsible. 
You both claim to be strong supporters of our troops and vets. Here is a chance to show you DO care about them and not just the profit margins of the military-industrial complex.
There is no good reason to vote against or filibuster this legislation unless you really do not care about the victims of rape. And if you don't care about the victims of rape and sexual trauma in our military then that is a good enough reason not to vote for you in the next election.

FROM Daily Kos Action....
After getting bumped from the Senate schedule last month, a bill offering new protections for victims of sexual assault in the military may be voted on this week.


Sign and send the petition telling your Senators to support this crucial bill.

The numbers are simply appalling—26,000 military sexual assaults in 2012 alone—and the chain of command has repeatedly failed to deal with the problem.

But instead of supporting common sense reforms that would offer new protections to victims, some senators are siding with military commanders—offering milquetoast tweaks to the existing system that has failed time and again.

This problem is WAY too big and we’re way too close to winning to stop now. Your senators could be the deciding vote.

Sign and send the petition now.

Keep fighting,
Michael Langenmayr, Daily Kos

Practical Progress: Top Wonks: The Environment Launch...Ending the Invisible War...4DEZ13

BOLD Progressive news updates from PRACTICAL PROGRESS: The Agenda Project Action Fund's actually 'brief' briefing on the most Important news from the Progressive Movement.
TOP WONKS: THE ENVIRONMENT LAUNCH -- Monday, the Agenda Project launched TOP WONKS: The Environment, an on-line guide to the country's preeminent environmental policy experts. The site features comprehensive profiles of each expert including up to the minute writing, media appearances, analysis, and tweets searchable by dozens of issue areas. Environment Top Wonks are now featured alongside the Economic Top Wonks and Democracy Top Wonks. Agenda Project Erica Payne tells PP: "These leading thinkers will show the way to a better American future." CONTACT Top Wonks Managing Editor David Berman at dberman@agendaproject.org with recommendations for future experts.
READ: "The Road Ahead (And Some Bumps Along the Way)" by Sierra Club Executive Director and Top Wonk Michael Brune and "A Wink and a Nod Won't Save a Declining Species" by Defenders of Wildlife President and CEO and Top Wonk Jamie Rappaport Clark. Check out more recent works by the environmental wonks HERE.
ENDING THE INVISIBLE WAR -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is backing Kirsten Gillibrand's (D-NY) Military Justice Improvement Act (MJIA), which would remove the oversight of sex crimes from the chain of command. Reid joins Protect our Defenders, the Center for American Progress (CAP), The National Women's Law Center, 19 our of the 20 female members of the U.S. Senate, conservatives Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rand Paul (R-KY) and countless others in supporting the bill.
HELP undecided senators make the right choice by TWEETING #passMJIA and CALLING 1-888-907-6886. Undecideds include John Barrasso (R-WY), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Mike Lee (R-UT), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Pat Toomey (R-PA), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). Gillibrand says it best: "IT'S THE LEAST WE CAN DO."
READ: "The Gillibrand Amendment Will Root Out Rapists" and "Kirsten Gillibrand Won't Take No For An Answer."
THE HUNGER GAMES -- Over 110 people were arrested at 1,500 Black Friday protests when workers joined to demand a living wage from Walmart, the country's largest private employer. The groups were led by the union-backed group OUR Walmart. As Amy Traub, Demos Senior Policy Analyst and co-author of the new brief "A Higher Wage is Possible," states: "Walmart's low wage model winds up costing all of us."
The New York Times, The New Yorker, Huffington Post, AlterNet, and Salon covered the story.
VA RIGHTS RESTORATION -- Over 450,000 Virginians -- roughly seven percent of the voting population -- have had their voting rights revoked, according to Advancement Project's new infographic. Advancement Project Co-Director Judith Browne Davis: "Virginia has an alarmingly bloated corrections population that, coupled with having one of the harshest felony disenfranchisement laws in the country, continues to strip hundreds of thousands of people of their right to vote... This is a statewide crises on which the next governor must act." WATCH Advancement Project's new video informing Virginians how to get back their vote HERE.
The Justice Policy Institute also released a new policy brief surveying the feeble state of Virginia's justice system.  READ: "Virginia's Justice System: Expensive, Ineffective, Unfair."
DIGNITY DENIED -- The Center for American Progress (CAP) published a new report analyzing the treatment of LGBT immigrants in U.S. immigration facilities, finding that LGBT immigrants face an substantially increased risk of abuse in detention centers. READ: "Dignity Denied: LGBT Immigrants in U.S. Immigration Detention."
FROM THE WONK WIRE ...
... BLACK FRIDAY, CYBER MONDAY, OH MY!: Former Secretary of Labor and Top Wonk Robert Reich uncovers the hidden cost of online holiday deals.
... COMMON CENTS: Nobel Prize winner and Top Wonk Joseph Stiglitz bemoans the insanity of US food policies.
... POLITICAL PIÑATA: Demos Fellow and Top Wonk Robert Kuttner reveals how the ACA was an unexpected gift to the Republicans.
... SPRAWLMART -- Jared Bernstein and CEPR Co-Director and Top Wonk Dean Baker released Getting Back to Full Employment: A Better Bargain for Working People, a follow-up to The Benefits of Full Employment. READ the full book, available free for online download HERE.
Find out more at www.TopWonks.org.
Check out our Newsletter's site at PracticalProgress.org. Like it? Subscribe.
E-mail tips, news, and reactions to Hannah Hendler at hhendler@agendaproject.org.

Justice, once and for all; Tell Congress: Protect Victims of Military Sexual Assault 19NOV13

THE victims of sexual assault in the U.S. Military deserve justice, and the Military Justice Improvement Act will do that. There is a lot of opposition from some in the Pentagon and many, many male members of Congress. We need to let them know we care for and support our troops, and signing this petition will help send a strong message to Congress to get this legislation passed! Please sign and share....

The numbers are shocking:
An estimated 26,000 instances of sexual assault in the military took place last year alone; but just 10 percent were even reported, and then only 302 cases were prosecuted.
We've got to change a broken military justice system where one-in-five servicewomen report experiencing unwanted sexual contact, but where survivors are often too scared to come forward because they fear retaliation.
And we must make sure that decisions about prosecuting cases of sexual assault are based purely on the evidence, not on any other factor.
That's exactly what the bipartisan Military Justice Improvement Act will do -- but we need your help to get it passed, and the vote could come in the next 24 hours.
Sign our petition: Join my colleagues and me in urging the Senate to pass the bipartisan Military Justice Improvement Act now!
The problem of sexual assault in the military is not new. Neither are the pledges of "zero tolerance" that military commanders have been making for over 20 years.
Under the current broken system, senior commanders with little or no legal training have the power to decide whether sexual assault cases go to trial or get swept under the rug. And then, even if an assailant is convicted by a judge or jury, those same commanders can overturn the verdict.
It's outrageous, and our servicemen and servicewomen deserve better.
When the Senate Armed Services Committee voted in June to embrace the status quo, rather than embrace survivors of sexual assault, we vowed we wouldn't back down.
Thanks to the support of over 300,000 Americans -- including you -- who stood with us then, we have been continuing to build support for the bipartisan Military Justice Improvement Act. We didn't give up, and now, we're on the verge of voting -- and we need you to make your voice heard.
Join my colleagues and me before this critical vote: Urge the Senate to pass the Military Justice Improvement Act now.
Together, we can ensure that survivors of military sexual assault receive justice once and for all.
Thank you for taking action for our brave men and women in uniform.